Bagged material is often loaded onto pallets to facilitate the movement and shipping of a quantity of bags from location to location. Apparatus have been developed to assist in this loading process, but such apparatus have normally required large and complex machinery. Where simplification of such apparatus has been attempted, the process of loading bags onto the pallet has been slowed and has required several manual steps which in the larger, more complex machinery has been automated.
Examples of earlier palletizing machines are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,782, to McPeek, et al., issued Nov. 30, 1971; U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,422, to Smith, et al., issured Oct. 29, 1974; U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,618, to Kelley, et al., issued June 21, 1977; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,780 to Kaul, et al., issued June 23, 1981. While these devices provide systems for assisting in loading bagged material onto pallets, the devices are, in many cases, complex and in other respects do not adequately automate the work involved in completing the loading process. For example, none of the references to McPeek, et al., Kelley, et al. or Kaul, et al. disclose a satisfactory arrangement for providing a plurality of pallets for selective use during the palletizing process. While the Smith, et al. patent discloses having a stack of pallets adjacent to the loading apparatus, the arrangement for positioning the pallet for receiving the load thereon is one that requires substantial complexity in parts and components.